Protect food safety net

You've probably heard that tomorrow will be the most expensive Thanksgiving in history.

The meal alone will cost an average of nearly $50 for a 10-person dinner - about 13 percent more than last year.

And while you might not even notice the bigger bill, securing that standard turkey-cranberries-stuffing feast can be rough going for struggling Iowa households.

The 382,000 Iowans who are food insecure each miss, on average, the equivalent of 167 meals a year, according to Iowa Food Bank Association Director Jordan Vernoy.

About 13 percent of Iowans, and nearly 21 percent of Iowa's children, don't have consistent access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food.

The 1,000-plus emergency feeding organizations across the state do their best to help bridge that meal gap, but it's becoming increasingly difficult for them to do so.

That's even more true this year, as Iowa's food pantries have seen a drastic increase in need, while donations have held steady, he said.

Add to that the sizable cut in supplies of federal commodities - most pantries' largest supplier of healthy, high-quality food - and it all adds up to a food security safety net that doesn't seem all that secure, itself.

That's one reason it's critical that lawmakers protect federal food assistance in the budget-tightening days ahead.

This week's super failure of a congressional “super committee” means lifesavers such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (today's version of food stamps) are staring down the barrel of across-the-board spending cuts.

Allowing SNAP to be cut would save a few budget dollars on the federal level, but it would wreak havoc with the personal budgets of hundreds of thousands of Iowans.

More than 340,000 Iowans received SNAP benefits last fiscal year, with a benefit of about $129 per person per month, according to a report released Tuesday by the Iowa Policy Project.

Vernoy said his group's two SNAP outreach workers have signed up 700 new Iowa families for SNAP benefits just this year.

It's a good investment, according to the group, generating $1.75 in the economy for every $1 SNAP dollar spent.

And it's a necessary compliment to the volunteer network of pantries and food shelves fighting hunger in our communities.

They're doing what they can, but they can't do it alone.

And there's no good reason - in the midst of all this plenty, with so much to be thankful for - to allow our neighbors to go hungry.

Comments: (319) 339-3154; jennifer.hemmingsen@sourcemedia.net